Bid to maintain financial stability amid Covid-19

Tuesday 17 March 2020

The GFSC is working closely with local clearing banks to help keep normal banking facilities in place.

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has set out what it is doing to ensure business continuity amid corona virus concerns.

"The commission is maintaining its efforts to monitor financial stability issues across the financial services sector. As part of this, the commission considers it essential that firms continue to make accurate regulatory returns in a timely manner.

"The commission appreciates that some firms may encounter challenges in their interactions with some third parties in preparing their regulatory returns and in those circumstances the commission is content to receive requests for third party sign off to be delayed.

We have issued a media statement which provides an update on the Commission's position https://t.co/VD4hZJtLra

— GFSC (@TheGFSC) March 16, 2020

"The commission has also been working closely with the local clearing banks to ensure that they have robust plans in place in order that normal banking facilities can continue throughout this difficult period."

In addition, the commission is talking to locally based insurers about the issues they face and has recently issued on its website some insurance-related guidance and FAQs specifically for consumers, which it will be updating as information becomes clearer.

"Finally, the commission has enacted its own business continuity plan and has already asked some staff to work from its reserve site. Until the public health advice changes, the commission intends to maintain its operations but will be postponing for the foreseeable future any public and/or large-scale events it had planned."